Alert #16 on Tropical Storm Franklin was issued by The Bahamas Department of Meteorology, on Wednesday 23rd August, 2023, at 6 am EDT.
Franklin is near the south coast of the Dominican Republic with heavy rainfall and potentially life-threatening flash flooding.
A Tropical Storm Warning is now in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands.
A Tropical Storm Warning means that Tropical Storm conditions could be experienced within the Turks and Caicos Islands within 36 hours.
At 5 a.m. EDT, the center of Tropical Storm Franklin was located near latitude 17.4 degrees north and longitude 71.3 degrees west, or about 280 miles south of Cockburn Town, Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands.
Tropical Storm Franklin is moving toward the north near 10 miles per hour. The system should turn northward today, and a north-northeastward motion is expected for the next day or so, followed by a turn toward the northeast and east-northeast on Thursday. On the forecast track, the center of Franklin is forecast to cross the island of Hispaniola today and emerge over the southwestern Atlantic waters later today or tonight.
Maximum sustained winds are near 50 miles per hour with higher gusts. Some weakening is likely today while Franklin moves over Hispaniola, followed by re-strengthening beginning on Thursday after the center moves over the Atlantic.
Tropical Storm force winds extend outward up to 115 miles from the center.
Residents in the Turks and Caicos Islands should continue making preparations for the possibility of Tropical Storm conditions beginning late Wednesday night or Thursday morning.
Franklin is expected to produce rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches, with isolated higher amounts of 4.
